500 Gush Shalom and Ta’ayush activists joined 2000 inhabitants of Abu Dis in a dramatic
protest rally in honor of Arun Gandhi, the grandson of the great Mahatma.

In the searing heat, they marched through the streets of Abu-Dis to the wall which cuts the
town off from Jerusalem. The Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Kurei (Abu Ala), himself a
resident of Abu-Dis, Dr. Arun Gandhi, Uri Avnery, Hulud Badawi as well as religious and civic
leaders advocated non-violence in the struggle against the occupation and the wall. They
also expressed their solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners who are on a hunger strike.
Gandhi said that the wall reminds him of South Africa during the apartheid regime. It will be
remembered that Mahatma Gandhi started out as a fighter against racism in his native South
Africa.

The rally reached its climax when one of the protesters climbed to the top of the 8-meters high
concrete wall in a breathtaking act of courage. He threw down a rope and half a dozen
Palestinian youth joined him on the top. One of them stood there like a human statue, the flag of
Palestine in his outstretched hand. Unintentionally, the daring act was a perfect
illustration of the Gandhi method: breaking the law of the occupation regime openly but
non-violently.

After the speeches Abu-Ala and Gandhi together wielded a hammer and hit the wall
symbolically. They were followed by the religious dignitaries and then by Israeli and
Palestinian peace activists. “We have proved that it is possible to go over the wall,” one
protester remarked. “With a bigger hammer, it is also possible to open a hole in it. This is not a
security wall, it is a wall of oppression and annexation.”